EMBERS AND EVIDENCE: A Backdrafts & Biscuits Mystery
About EMBERS AND EVIDENCE: A Backdrafts & Biscuits Mystery
When Fire Inspector Maya Walker arrives at the burned Riverside Inn to complete a routine insurance assessment, she expects a straightforward electrical fire investigation. Instead, she discovers property owner Harold Wells dead in the basement with suspicious burn patterns that don't match the official story. The wrist marks on his body tell a different tale than the "tragic accident" ruling, and her Golden Retriever Honey won't stop alerting to a locked storage closet that holds secrets no one wants found.
As the town's newest resident, Maya knows questioning the fire marshal's conclusions could cost her the fresh start she came to Riverside Bend to find, but her instincts are screaming that Harold's death was anything but accidental. Against direct orders from Fire Marshal Torres to sign off quickly and move on, Maya can't ignore what the evidence reveals. Harold Wells wasn't a beloved figure in Riverside Bend—the inn's abrupt closure six months ago left twenty people without jobs and destroyed more than one life's work.
Between his daughter who desperately wanted to stop the sale, the manager he betrayed after thirty years of loyalty, and the chef he left drowning in debt, there's no shortage of people with motive. With help from her best friend Liam and the town's gossip-loving diner owner Rita, Maya follows a trail of old grievances and fresh lies through a community where everyone knows everyone's business—except who wanted Harold Wells dead enough to stage the perfect murder. But the closer Maya gets to the truth, the more dangerous her investigation becomes.
Someone spray-paints threats on her garage. Evidence mysteriously disappears from the crime scene. Fire Marshal Torres files complaints that could end her career.
In a town built on loyalty and long memories, Maya must risk everything she's worked for to prove that Harold's death was no accident and expose a killer who's had forty years to perfect their patience.